Ireland’s First Lady of Chicago
By Maureen Callahan
There’s a little brown sign indicating the Honorary Maureen O’Looney Way, the street on which her store, Shamrock Imports, stands. Give a hard knock on the door of the first storefront on Laramie south of Belmont. And if no one hears you, “give it a good old Irish kick,” as the sign indicates. But don’t walk so far inside that you miss the wall of notoriety.
With personal photographs of every Irishman to hold office in current time, it is truly a political hall of fame. And posed with each of them is Chicago’s Irish first lady. “That one was taken right outside Martin McGuinness’s house. He invited me to go fishing with him that day,” she remembers. From Gerry Adams to President Mary Robinson, Mayor Daley to President Clinton, they hold a place of honor alongside her “Irish Person of the Year” award, photos of Gaelic football leagues and various other noteworthy recognitions.
For generations, Maureen’s shop, Shamrock Imports, has served as the needle on many an Irish immigrant’s compass. She has assisted, either with housing job placement, or urban advice, over 300 immigrants from all 32 of Ireland’s counties. From Ulster to Waterford, her store has served as Chicago’s gateway for generations of Irish newcomers.
“One time there was a group of half a dozen girls who came in the shop together with traveling backpacks. I put the kettle on straight away, of course. They were shocked to see you could get a cup of tea in America! They had nowhere to go, so I took them home with me.” She and her generous husband Clem, would “keep them with us until they were sorted out. For years, I had dozens of people in Chicago looking for help with babysitting, CTA jobs and the like, so placing them wasn’t usually a problem.”
Born Kathleen Anne Staunton in the tiny town of Bohola, County Mayo, “one of my aunties started calling me Maureen when I was little.” The name stuck. “I’m from the same small town as Bill O’Dwyer, who went on to become the Mayor of New York, so you see, sometimes good things come from small places,” she laughs. I learned a lot from my family and neighbors growing up. My father and I used to walk up to where the tinkers (similar to gypsies) would gather in the bogs behind our house and bring them something to add to their stew. I can still see the big black cauldron on the fire. We were usually asked to stay and have some, and we always did. That’s how my parents taught me to see people. I’ve had dinner as a guest of President and Mrs. Clinton themselves in the Rose Garden of the White House,” she smiles. “My father showed me to look on all people the same way, from a president to a tinker.”
Maureen came to Chicago in 1953 “for three weeks to visit an aunt. One day I decided to go to Midway airport to see what an airplane looked like, since I had sailed from Ireland by boat. I somehow wandered into the United Airlines office and was offered a job in the accounting department. I told them I would only be visiting here for another two weeks. The president of the airline called me the next day and asked me to reconsider. Fifty-six years later, and I’m still here!”
Mayo’s loss was absolutely Chicago’s gain. Maureen has been active in so many Irish organizations in and around the city that “it’s tough to keep track of all of them.” Most of us would tire at the schedule she still keeps. Initially involved with the organization of Gaelic football leagues, she also played at hurling. Once an active step dancer, now a judge at feisianna “I love to be involved with the dancing. Especially the little ones getting started.” A founding member of both Gaelic Park on the south side and The Irish American Heritage Center on the north side, she still serves on the advisory board of both. And those are just the main ones. “No other city in this country has finer organizations to assist and honor the Irish the way Chicago does.”
Almost any benefit for any cause, from medical bills to sudden deaths of family members, finds Maureen as part organizer.
When the Ulster Troubles came to the forefront of Ireland’s concern, she helped found a chapter of the The American Congress for Irish Freedom and hosted civil rights activists while visiting Chicago. The number of fundraisers is “somewhere around 185. People forget that if we all do a little something, it’s amazing what the end result can be.”
Helping others is the only life Maureen has ever known. While wrapping up our interview, the phone rang. On the other end was Tim McDonnell, Irish American Heritage Center Board Member, who had just an hour earlier announced his intention to fill the Director’s position job opening of the center. “I’m thrilled,” Maureen called into the phone, “anything you need, I’m right here by your side, no matter what. You know that, don’t you?”
I think anyone whose life is lucky enough to be touched by her knows that...
Maureen Callahan is a freelance Chicago writer and columnist for The Irish American News.
misscallahan@hotmail.com